Excerpt from the report - Foreward by Andy Rhodes
Andy Rhodes, Chief Constable Lancashire Constabulary
The dilemma facing decision makers in policing is how best to adapt our response to new threats whilst staying true to the Peelian principle of “The test of police efficiencyis the absence of crime and disorder, not the visible evidence of police action in dealingwith it”.
Throughout austerity we have seen worrying signs that the investment in prevention is proving hard to sustain yet the landscape review which underpins the consensus has identified much innovation with our partners from health. We are seeing practitioners adapt, moving from collaboration to integration with a shared purpose to take action early. We estimate 80% of police demand can be described as working with client groups who have complex needs and we are slowly starting to realise that health interventions supported by health data hold the key to not only preventing escalation of need but also crime. There is a clear and unequivocal link between health inequality and crime.
The consensus is a clear statement of intent about our shared purpose, it is not a burning platform but a burning desire to build on the innovation we have found, further develop the evidence about what works and scale up to meet the challenges of the future.